I won !

            Last week, we celebrated the 48^th Annual Literary Contest for General Studies at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. Not only did we celebrate the tradition, but also the life and work of the great poet and professor, Mark Wekander. In honor of his work both literary and in the classroom, one of the awards is in his honor. The contest is divided into 3 categories; Essay, Poetry and Short Story. Each category had third to first place and honorable mention. The only people that could participate were students that were currently coursing through a general literary studies class. The festivities started with an introduction of the master of ceremonies and his introduction of the activity.

            The first category awarded was Essays, where as the title so coyly states I won the first place prize. I got a certificate, a check and read my essay in front of everybody there (no pressure). My piece was called “Do witches get financial aid?” in essence it talked about the injustice in the justice system starting by just wanting to study this very crooked justice system but in a very satiric way. After I read my essay the ceremony continued with the honoring of Mark Wekander by a group of students reading a selection of poems and a colleague analyzing and bringing attention to the different dimensions in his work. After everybody rejoiced in his work it was only appropriate to continue with the poetry award named after him. The winner of this category was “Godly Poet” and the winner of the short story category was “ Do you got room for one more troubled soul?” Unfortunately the latter was not present to read her piece. To end the already great ceremony the general studies dancers decided to grace us with a salsa choreography and there was food offered for those in the festivities. The ceremony was incredibly well planned and ultimately lots of fun. I only wish it was marketed so that more people knew about it and could compete.